The Monster at the End of This Book S4
by Bad Day at Black Rock
Summary: Continuing my series, the guys come across an author who knows way too much about them.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: These fics are based on real episodes from Supernatural. The characters and plots belong to the creator and writers for the show. If you want background on the new character you can read the previous episodes.

_Sorry about the delay-I'm trying to get back on schedule now that the holidays are over._

The Monster at the End of This Book

"What do you mean you went after a demon while we were gone?" It came out more like a growl, and that was after he'd restrained himself enough to respond.

She smiled that adoring smile, the one he didn't deserve after everything he'd put her through even if she was in the wrong. "I missed you."

"Don't change the subject, you could have been killed." Then he would have welcomed the apocalypse with open arms.

"That's impossible, I brought backup."

Good point. His accusing stare turned on Cas, to Dean's surprise his normally flat expression turned defensive.

"She would have gone regardless of my presence."

Kayla laughed and he tried to stay mad. "Did you see how easily he ratted me out? You're supposed to protect me!"

"I kept you from harm while they were away." He reminded.

"But now all bets are off? I see how it is."

The expression on his face changed again and he looked to Dean, seemingly for help. He involuntarily smiled when she laughed again, suddenly remembering how much he'd missed it over the two weeks in corporate hell.

"Now you know what I put up with." Poor guy, Dean knew the feeling. Keeping her happy and safe at the same time wasn't easy. He couldn't really be mad at Kayla, he would have gotten bored and gone hunting too. He was glad someone had her back.

"Wait so, Cas went hunting with you?" Sam cut in with curious laugh. "Wasn't that…quiet?"

"Quiet?" Kayla smiled. "Cas can talk. Mostly, he can ask questions like nobody's business. You know he's never even kissed anyone?" Her smile was devious, like she was trying to get back at him for getting her in trouble.

Dean smirked. "Yeah? You should make out with Kayla, it'll blow your mind."

Her expression shifted. "Why are you always pimping me to make out with people?"

"Oh come on it was only Sam and in case you don't remember, you _did_ make out with him."

"Classy Dean." Sam grumbled, trying to sound humored but the comment had made him uncomfortable. "I'm gonna bunk down for the night…away from you."

Cas quickly threw himself next in line. "I have to get back to the garrison. If you need anything…"

"Hey," Dean interrupted with a grin. "If _you_ need anything, huh?" He wiggled his eyebrows as he pushed his shoulder.

His eyes darted towards Kayla with what looked like fear and he was gone.

"I didn't even get my hug, you had to scare everyone off."

"That was the idea." His hands slid around her waist; he'd been gone two weeks after all. "You still shouldn't have gone after a demon, not until we got back." He scolded but placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"It wasn't a big player, just like, a wingman. Not even. He was like a baby demon. Did you really drive a Prius?" She shifted the subject back to the angel's 'lesson' for him. Cas had given her bits and pieces of information about it.

"Mmm." He grimaced, a painful memory.

"Did you at least get a hot secretary?"

"No, I didn't. I got ripped off."

Kayla smirked. "You want one?"

One of his eyebrows arched and he kissed her again. The questions floating in his mind about her hunt with Cas faded into the background as her tongue traced his bottom lip. No wonder they didn't include Kayla in his corporate life; he would have been perfectly happy wherever she was.


	2. Chapter 2

Kayla absently sifted through rows of comic books, trying her hardest to appear interested and like she was looking for something. It was hard when the dude behind the counter wouldn't take his eyes off her. There wasn't even anything familiar amongst the covers; nothing like the original X-Men series or something. _That _would have been cool. What the hell was with this X-Men Evolution crap? She breathed out in relief and only allowed a quick glance when the door swung open and the guys came in.

There was a long pause before anyone spoke and it was the clerk. "Um, can I help you?"

"I hope so." They flashed their badges. "Agents Young and Shaw. Have you noticed anything unusual in the last couple days?"

"Like what?"

"Some other tenants reported flickering lights, power surges…"

"Uh…I don't think so. Why?"

"What about noises?" Sam added. "Skittering in the walls, like rats?"

"And the FBI is investigating a rodent problem?"

Dean broke a smirk, the guy wasn't a complete loss.

"What about cold spots? Feel any sudden drops in temperature?"

The clerk suddenly relaxed and leaned back with a smile. "I knew it. You guys are fans, you're LARPing!"

"Excuse me?" Sam tilted his head.

"What is larping?"

"Like you don't know. Live Action Role Playing! And pretty hardcore too." He sounded impressed, Kayla moved closer to them.

Dean shook his head. "I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're asking questions like the building is haunted. Like those guys from the books, what are they called…Supernatural."

Kayla's attention peaked as she remembered a title she'd seen in one of the book bins. She moved to the center of the aisle.

"Two guys, use fake IDs and rock aliases, hunt down ghosts, demons, vampires…um, what are their names? Steve and Dirk? Sal and Dane…"

Sam stared at him. "Sam and Dean?"

"That's it!"

"You're saying this is a book?"

"Books. This was a series. Didn't sell a lot of copies, kind of had an underground cult following."

"Do you have any copies?"

Kayla was already walking up to the counter with one of the books. She read the back description aloud. "On a lonely California highway, a strange lady in white lures men to their deaths…"

Sam's eyes widened. "Give me that." He snatched the book from her.

"Rude."

"Hardcore!" The clerk grinned. "Kayla, right?"

She glanced unenthusiastically to Dean.

"We're gonna need every copy of this that you have."

Despite the vague curiosity they originally had for the books, it wasn't long before hours had passed at the hotel and they were still flipping pages. The details were undeniable, whoever was writing this seemed to have an open window to their every move _and _thought. It was like opening their collective diaries.

Dean held his book down. "This is freaking insane. How does this guy know all this stuff? Everything is in here, I mean _everything._ The racist truck to me having sex, I mean, I'm full frontal in here!" Though he did like to read about how jealous Kayla was about the whole thing, kind of cute. That particular book was a little surreal at the same time, to see how close it was. While he was with Cassie, Kayla was with Sam at the hotel. They connected so effortlessly, if Sam hadn't spoken in his defense…

"I knew it!" Kayla put her book down. "I _knew_ you wanted to go on that case to hook up with that kid's mom!"

Dean paused and raised his book back up. "You can't believe everything you read."

She threw the book at him, narrowly missing his head. At least she didn't really find anything horrible; she had scanned a few select copies and satisfied her curiosity about his relationship with Bella. "So why haven't we heard about these books before?"

Sam was at his laptop. "They're pretty obscure, almost zero circulation."

Dean leaned over him. "Oh check it out, there's actually fans. Although for fans they sure do complain a lot. Listen to this. 'The demon storyline is trite, cliché and overall craptastic.' Well screw you, we lived it."

Sam chuckled. "Keep reading, it gets better."

"There are Sam girls, Dean girls, Kayla girls…" He smirked, interrupted by his own fantasies. "Girls that like Kayla?"

"Calm down." She rolled her eyes.

"What's a slash girl?" He refocused. Kind of.

"It's um," Sam started carefully. "It's when they pair the characters into relationships that may not be in the storyline."

Kayla got up and moved to the computer. "Sam/Dean." She stifled a laugh. "Wrong. In so many ways."

"What?" Dean looked at them, still confused. Did you learn some secret code if you were computer savvy?

Sam grimaced. "As in Sam slash Dean…together."

"Like, together together?"

"Yeah."

Fantasy gone, replaced with creepiness. "They do know we're brothers right?"

"It doesn't seem to matter."

"Oh come on, that…that's just sick." He closed the laptop.

Sam shook his head. "So this guy seems to be using a pen name. You two want to go talk to the publisher?"

"Us?" Dean asked, immediately suspicious then remembered that Sam and Kayla weren't exactly on friendly terms yet. In fact, they were kind of bitter with each other. He was good with that, no need to kiss and make up. "Sure dude we'll take care of it."

His mind went back to the Route 666 book. Kayla's relationship with his brother had always put him on edge and if the books were fact, she had thoughts about it herself. Why the hell did the series have to end with him going to hell? What he wouldn't give to get his hands on the next few stories…before his return.


	3. Chapter 3

"So you published the Supernatural books?" Dean eyed her collection on the bookshelf.

"Yeah." The woman breathed, there was a fascinated edge to it. "They never really got the attention they deserved. You know no one wants to read that romance crap anymore, Dr. Sexy." She rolled her eyes with a disgusted grunt.

"That's why we want to do the article." Kayla smiled. "Maybe we can draw in some more fans."

"Yeah, definitely! Then we could start publishing again."

"No, God no." Dean shot quickly, then corrected himself. "I mean, why would you want to do that? It's such a complete series what with Dean going to hell and all."

A wave of nostalgia swept her face. "Oh my God that was one of my favorite ones! Dean was so strong, and sad, and brave. The best parts are where they cry. I mean when Sam had to kill Madison, the first woman he'd had a connection with since Jessica, or in the last book when he had to go back and tell Kayla that they'd failed. And in Home, where Dean had to call John and ask him for help."

Dean was more than a little creeped out by this whole thing, and this lady was nuts.

"Oh my God did you read the one where Sam was possessed?"

"Do you have that book?"

Kayla quickly interrupted. "We'd really like to get in touch with the author."

"Oh that's impossible." She sat at her desk. "He's very private."

"We just want to talk to him, get his perspective." Dean encouraged.

"I can't."

"Please, we're really big fans."

Skepticism took over and she eyed them. "How do I know?" She smirked and leaned back a little. "What's the year and model of the car."

Dean grinned proudly. "It's a 1976 Chevy Impala."

"What's May 2nd?" She continued.

"Sam's birthday." Kayla answered.

Dean shrugged. "Dean's is January 24th."

"Sam's score on the LSAT?"

Dean looked to Kayla, he was lost on that one and even she looked nervous.

She paused while she searched her memory archives for the number. "One seventy four?"

The woman seemed satisfied with it. "Dean's favorite song."

"It's a tie." Dean stated. "Between Zep's Ramble On and Traveling Riverside Blues."

"You guys are good! Still, he doesn't like to be bothered."

"Please." Kayla shifted her weight, looking for a turning point. "We're really, really big fans." She leaned over and pulled Dean's shirt aside, revealing his anti-possession tattoo.

Her eyes widened and she stood up to turn around. She pulled her pants down to show her own matching tattoo displayed on her ass. "I've got one too!"

Dean cleared his throat and shrugged his shirt back into place. "Don't be so modest, you're a _way_ bigger fan." He turned to the publisher. "She's totally in love with Dean. Writes his name with little hearts all over her notebooks…"

"What am I thirteen?" Kayla shoved him.

"Don't be embarrassed. Show her _your_ tattoo."

She stared at him and the corner of his lip turned up.

"Go on."

She turned around and pulled her hair up, showing her Dean's name on the back of her neck. The unpleasant memory of having the tattoo _carved_ off of her sent a shiver down her spine; she was glad it was back when Cas healed her.

"That is so, awesome!" The woman beamed. "It's not like anyone would blame you, I mean, who _doesn't_ have a thing for Dean, right?"

"Right." She tried not to grimace.

"Let me give you Mr. Shurley's address."

Dean idly tapped the steering wheel as they waited for the red light. Sam wanted in on talking to the author so they were on their way back to the motel. He could still feel his curiosity looming in the back of his mind; he glanced to Kayla as the light turned green.

"So. You and Cas huh?"

She smiled. "In his defense, he did try to talk me out of it.

He shook his head. "Poor guy never stood a chance. Seriously though, you two took the Imapala," he paused. "You didn't let him drive did you?"

"Of course not."

The whole thing seemed so strange, throwing an angel into normal life. Wow, did he just label their lives as normal? "I gotta know. What the heck did you talk about?"

Kayla shrugged. Having Cas along on a hunt had definitely been an experience; he was so neutral about everything, she had to work twice as hard to get excited about anything. Still, it was refreshing to spend time with someone who wasn't so pessimistic about life in general. His steadfast beliefs were almost inspiring.

"A little bit of everything. We talked about you and your…pessimism, he asked what I thought was going on with Sam, he asked like a hundred questions about being human…"

"Like what? What did he want to know?" He was still having a problem wrapping his mind around the scenario.

"Just, well, he's not all-knowing. He doesn't understand our priorities, he doesn't know what goes on in our minds. The whole relationship thing baffles the hell out of him. The idea that we pick someone out that we hold more important than anyone else is apparently very confusing. They've been taught to care for everyone equally."

Dean scoffed. "That didn't really work out with Uriel huh?"

"Yeah apparently not."

"And that's how the conversation turned into _his_ relationships."

"Which are non-existent."

Dean didn't envy him on that one and he couldn't keep the smirk from his face. "We can fix that."

A sharp rap at the window made them both jump and Dean unlocked the doors to let Sam in.

"So you found him."

Dean looked at him a moment. He looked different, though he wasn't sure how. "What have you been doing?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Research, the usual."

Kayla bit back the bitter remark on her tongue; it seemed like he wasn't even trying to lie convincingly anymore. "His name is Chuck Shurley, apparently, he's a genius." Kayla told him before they could start fighting.

But he just grimaced and leaned back in the seat. She hated that they were like this; Dean and Sam always on edge, suspicious and paranoid. Her relationship with Sam wasn't much better. They weren't ignoring each other anymore, but there hadn't been any apologies made either. If he would just come clean about whatever he was hiding they could get the fight and recovery process over so much faster. Of course the Winchesters seemed to enjoy drawing out their self-inflicted torture. Kayla sighed quietly and focused her attention out the window, she wasn't expecting anymore questions from Dean. He was pretty quiet around his brother lately.


	4. Chapter 4

The house was unimpressive for a so-called genius. Perhaps he was just underappreciated and misunderstood like most geniuses in their day. Or, more likely it was that he wasn't a genius at all. With the kind of details this guy was dishing out, he sounded more like a very powerful psychic. After Dean rang the doorbell an unkempt man opened the door and looked to them with disinterest.

"You Chuck Shirley?"

"The Chuck Shirley that wrote the Supernatural books?" Sam added.

"Maybe…why?" He eyed them with growing curiosity.

"I'm Dean, this is Sam, Kayla. The ones you've been writing about."

He nodded, making false appearance that it made complete sense before shutting the door in their faces. Dean leaned forward and rang the doorbell again.

Chuck opened the door. "Look, I appreciate the enthusiasm, really. It's always good to hear from the fans. But for your own good, I strongly suggest you get a life."

When he tried to shut the door again Dean held it open and forced his way in. "See here's the thing. We have a life. You've been using it to write your books."

"This isn't funny!"

"You're damn right it isn't funny."

"Dean." Kayla cautioned him. "He doesn't know who we are."

"We just want to know how you're doing it." Sam offered.

"I'm not doing anything!"

Dean was getting more frustrated by the second. "Are you a hunter?"

"What? No, I'm a writer!"

"Then how do you know so much about demons and topes and changelings?!"

Chuck fell back on the couch as Dean got in his face. "Is this some kind of misery thing? Oh, this is a misery thing." He added dramatically.

Kayla rolled her eyes. "Dude, get up." Her attention turned to the guys. "He's gonna need proof, maybe you should show him the car."

Showing him the contents of the Impala didn't convince him of their identity, in fact, it further convinced him that they were obsessed fans. Dean was convinced this was all an act and he slammed the trunk shut. This guy was full of shit.

"How much do you know?"

"I don't know anything!"

"You know about hell, do you know about the angels? The apocalypse?"

Chuck stopped and looked at them. "How do _you_ know about that? That was after the last published book."

"Wait, you kept writing?" Sam stepped forward.

"Yeah, we stopped publishing but I never stopped writing. Wait." A smile crossed his face. "This is a joke, right?" He laughed. "Hey did…"

"Stop." Dean shot at him. "We, are Sam and Dean Winchester, and…"

"I never put the last names in the books." His face suddenly went white. "I never even told anyone about it."

Chuck needed a drink after that. Actually several drinks, he had a surprisingly high tolerance. The first product of his intoxication was labeling himself as a God. If he was a God, he was a dick.

"I am so, sorry. The things I put you through, the beatings alone…"

"We're still in one piece." Dean answered, his tone short.

"I killed your father. I burned your mother alive, and then, you had to repeat the whole horrific ordeal with Jessica." His eyes turned to Kayla. "Kayla, the…"

"I'd rather you didn't. Look, you're not a God okay? You're some kind of weird psychic."

"Nah." He shook his head. "If I were psychic, you think I'd be writing? Writing is hard. I'd just predict some winning lottery numbers and take off to Rio or something…"

Turned out that not only did Chuck continue writing after his last book, his most recent 'accomplishment' was a little piece about him being confronted by his characters. On that note, they left him for the rest of the day to sort some of this crap out. This whole thing was way too weird.


	5. Chapter 5

He took his time choosing the next tool, the anticipation always made it worse for them. From the rack, a weak cry turned into a louder sob of agony that gave him a rush of satisfaction. As he picked up a knife he saw Alastair leaned in the doorway.

"'Atta boy Dean, you never let me down."

Dean turned to the rack and stopped, his heart dropped in his chest. Kayla was strapped down, blood running from her lips. Her eyes were so afraid, afraid of him.

Alastair's hot breath was on his neck. "Take your time."

Dean inhaled sharply, violently jerking out of his sleep. He jumped when Kayla's hand touched his. He had woken her when he sat up.

"Dean it's okay."

They were in the motel. After a deep breath he glanced to the side and saw Sam still sleeping. Dean had made him stay in the same room; if he was here he wasn't with Ruby. He squeezed Kayla's hand and leaned over the bed, reaching into his bag.

She caught his wrist as he lifted the flask. "Please don't."

"Sam's asleep." He muttered as he unscrewed the cap, but before he could put it to his lips she had snatched from him. "Kayla." When he turned to take it back she kissed him and he definitely didn't want to fight her on it. "Don't get me started. I can't be that quiet."

"Quiet?" She glanced to Sam with a smirk. "Come on."

He couldn't tell her no, not with that demure little smile she was giving him. Dean followed her into the bathroom and watched her close the door and turn on the shower. He liked where this was going. "What are you doing?"

"Distracting you."

"Yeah?"

She slid her hands over his shoulders. "Yeah."

He kissed her roughly and pressed her against the door. The shower would drown out most the noise anyway. His adrenaline pumped through him as he heard her breath quicken and he kissed her neck. Suddenly the darkness made his mind go back, back to the dream, back to the pit. The screaming…

"Dean." Kayla shook him out of it and raised his head to look at her. "Don't close your eyes baby okay? Just look at me."

His breath came out ragged, trying to shake the image.

"You're home." She kissed him softly and he could finally focus. If this was going to be his rehabilitation he'd sign up for a nightly session.

The following morning they got a phone call from Chuck; he had written a new chapter in his book. Apparently Lilith was going to make an appearance, and she was coming that night.

"_Lilith patted the bed seductively. Unable to deny his desire, Sam succumbed, and they sank into the throes of fiery demonic passion."_

According to Sam the whole thing was a joke; there was no way he would end up in bed with Lilith so there was nothing to worry about. On the other side, Dean wanted to do everything possible to _not_ follow the script in order to keep Sam from his midnight rendezvous. They tried to get out of town but there was a roadblock on the only bridge out.

At a local diner, Dean was still looking over his manual of what they weren't doing that day.

"It says here me and Sam get in a fight, so, easy. No fighting."

Kayla rolled her eyes. Sam and Dean not fighting when it came to Lilith, that was sure to be a success. They can't agree over what channel to watch.

"No research for you." He said to Sam.

"No bacon cheeseburger for you." He shot back.

There was a pause while the disappointed brushed across his face. "That's fine, I'll order something else." The waitress approached the table for their orders. "I'll have the veggie tofu burger." His tone was confident but it sounded so strange coming from him.

Sam made his order after Kayla and waited for the waitress to leave. "This whole thing is ridiculous."

"Lilith is ridiculous?"

"The idea of me hooking up with her is."

"'Cause people don't willingly sleep with demons right?" Kayla almost covered her mouth, shocked that she'd let the thought come out so easily. Was she really that bitter about him sleeping with Ruby? Surely Sam wasn't right about that, who was she to judge anyway? She would have slept with Dominic had he been willing to give her what she wanted. It didn't help that Dean smirked his encouragement of the remark.

Sam gathered his patience before speaking. "Look, this is the first time we've had the jump on where Lilith is going to be. This is an opportunity to get her before she gets us."

"Are you…" Dean started to snap but reigned himself in. No fighting. "It frustrates me when you say such reckless things." He stated calmly.

Kayla giggled, Dean shot her a look.

"Well it _frustrates_ me when you'd rather hide than fight." Sam answered.

"Guys." Kayla cautioned as the waitress approached. Dean was already two bites into his burger before she realized she'd given him the bacon cheeseburger by mistake. Things were looking more towards a demonic hookup.

"It's not hiding, it's being smart." Dean continued his argument, oh, discussion. Not an argument. "It's picking your battles, this is a battle we're not ready to fight."

"So how about that…Chuck, huh? He's something." Kayla grasped for a subject change.

Dean grimaced. "I'd like to know what kind of something he is."

"I still think he's a psychic." Sam threw in grudgingly.

She shrugged. "He'd prefer to be a God."

"Wouldn't we all."

Going by the anti-script (or the Book of Dean), they were supposed to drop Sam off at the motel, jack his laptop so he couldn't research, and park the Impala so it couldn't be driven around all day. It seemed like a stretch but he thought it would keep Lilith from getting anywhere near his brother.


	6. Chapter 6

"I don't want to leave it." Dean stared longingly at the Impala.

Kayla patted him on the shoulder. "She'll be okay."

He slowly started to walk away, taking quick glances back as they crossed the street. When they'd reached the other side he took one last look and to his shock (and disgust), two guys were trying to break in to the car with a crowbar.

"Hey!" He started across the street again.

"Dean look…" she gasped as the tires of the van screeched, it couldn't stop before hitting him. "Dean!" She kneeled beside him as the woman driver jumped out of the van.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry! Is he okay?"

Kayla did a quick assessment. "I think so…there's no blood, externally anyway…"

A little girl ran out of from the van. "I'll fix him!"

"Honey stay in the van."

"It's okay!" She opened a small first aid kit. "I know what to do!"

Kayla laughed quietly. "Thanks sweetheart." She glanced back to the Impala, suddenly remembering why he'd dashed in the first place. Dean was still breathing, and he'd definitely set the Impala as first priority. "I'll be right back." Kayla ran towards the guys. "Hey," she yelled when they didn't answer. "Hey!"

The two men eyed her, unimpressed.

"Get the hell away from my car."

"I'm trembling." One of them rolled his eyes at her.

"This is your car?" The other asked, just before smashing out the back windshield.

Kayla covered her mouth with a gasp. "Oh my God." _He's gonna be pissed…_

"What are you gonna do cupcake?"

She punched him, hard, in the face. "What's your problem?!"

The one with the crowbar stepped towards her but she quickly grabbed hold of it, using it to pull him into her so she could kick him in the groin. He hit his knees with some profanities.

"This car is a classic you prick!" Out of the corner of her eye she saw the other one make a move and she swung the crowbar around to hit him in the face. "Get out of here before I call the cops!" She looked at the broken glass in the back seat and cursed at herself. "Damn."

She waited for the assholes to take off before going back to check on Dean, who was now coming to, sporting two flowery band aids on his face. Chuck had been right about that too.

Dean shook the haze from his eyes. "Ouch."

"You okay?" She held out her hand.

He grabbed it and stood up. "Good, yeah…how's my baby?"

She hesitated. "Um, well, they didn't steal anything." He gave her a look and she winced guiltily. "Sorry, I tried."

He went back to his Impala and stopped to stare at the broken glass. With a heavy sigh he shook his head. "We're gonna have a little talk with Chuck, right now."

Kayla reached out and peeled the band aids from his cheek. "As much as it was a great look for you…"

"Thanks." He smirked and popped the trunk, looking for the plastic tarp for the back window.

Of course Chuck had already known they were coming. He'd been waiting for them with his latest purchase from the liquor store. His greeting was a sad attempt at upbeat but Dean was far beyond the mood for even faking it.

"I want to know how you're doing this. How do you know what's going to happen?"

"I don't know how I know, I just do!" He insisted, very defensive against Dean's attitude.

"Not good enough." He grabbed him and shoved him against the wall, the guy _would_ talk.

Kayla heard the wings and immediately turned. She just barely managed to suppress an excited greeting and remembered the tense situation. Something always had to rain on her parade.

"Dean let him go. This man is to be protected."

Dean bit back a scowl and looked at him. "Why?"

"He's a prophet of the Lord."

Chuck looked at him a moment, a little in awe. "You…you're Castiel. Aren't you?"

"It's an honor to meet you Chuck. I admire your work." He ran his hand across one of the books on the coffee table.

"Come on!" Dean threw out. "This guy, a prophet? He's practically a penthouse forum writer!"

Kayla looked at Chuck. "If you saw the minivan, didn't you see this? Didn't you see him come and tell us you're a prophet?"

He looked a little guilty. "Well yeah but, it seemed so egotistical. A prophet? Come on."

Dean threw his hands up in agreement.

"But a God isn't egotistical."

He shrugged.

"This douchebag is deciding our fate?" Dean couldn't keep the distaste from his voice.

"He's isn't deciding anything, he's a mouthpiece. A conduit for the inspired word."

"The word? Like the Word of God? Like the new new testament?"

"One day these books will be known as the Winchester Gospel."

"Holy shit." Kayla breathed.

"You gotta be kidding me." Dean and Chuck said in unison.

"I am not, kidding you." The answer sounded awkward coming from him. His vocabulary was adapting.

"Can you excuse me?" Chuck took his liquor up the stairs.

Dean watched him go; a meek, ragged, borderline alcoholic. "Him, really?"

"You should have seen Luke." Cas finally looked at Kayla, visibly fighting back a smile in front of Dean.

"Well whatever, it's good you're here anyway. We need to find a way around this."

"Around what?"

"This Sam/Lilith love connection! How do we keep it from happening?"

He looked confused for a moment, then his face became serene again. "We can't. What the prophet has written cannot be unwritten. As he has seen it, so it shall come to pass."

"Couldn't he try?" Kayla wondered out loud. "I mean, it's what writers do right? They go back, fine tune, edit…change endings…"

Castiel shook his head. "It doesn't work like that."

"We gotta get Sam out of here." Dean nodded to Kayla before quickly making his way to the car. Kayla only had time to offer a quick wave and smile before she went after him.


	7. Chapter 7

"Are you coming or not?" Dean demanded from the doorway, his bag was in his hand. He wanted to get Sam out of this damned town before Lilith showed up and the genius burned all the hex bags to invite her in. Why was he so eager to let this bitch tear him apart?

"No." He stated firmly.

His teeth ground together and he turned for the door. Stopping short of grabbing the handle, Dean threw his bag into the chair and stormed out.

Kayla kept her voice low but it was still shaky. "Why do you have to be so fucking stupid about this?"

"This is the opportunity of a lifetime! Lilith is going to be here!"

"What makes you think you're ready for that?"

"I don't know!"

"You don't know? Don't you think that's something you _should_ know? Have you talked to Ruby? Does she think you're ready?" He didn't answer. "She'd tell you if you were ready Sam."

"I can't let this pass me up."

"You're going to get killed!" She yelled at him, unable to keep it calm. "Why…" she took a deep breath and shook her head. "I don't understand why you're doing this, why you can't wait until you're sure."

Again he wouldn't answer and she walked out to find Dean, only to find him near the parking lot speaking with Cas. She went up behind them.

"What you're asking is not within my power to do."

"Why? Because it's divine prophecy?"

"Yes."

"So what, we're just supposed to sit around and wait for it to happen?" He couldn't believe this crap.

"I'm sorry."

So that was it. He was going to leave Sam to Lilith and not lift a damn finger to change the event. "Screw you." Cas looked down. "Your mission, your God. If you don't help me now, then when the time comes and you need me, don't bother knocking." He turned to walk away, motioning to Kayla as he did.

"Dean."

"What?" He growled as he turned back.

"You have to understand why I can't intervene. Prophets are special, they're protected."

"I get that." He didn't need a repeat of his excuse.

"If _anything_ threatens a prophet, anything at all, an archangel will appear to destroy that threat. Archangels are fierce, they're absolute, they're heavens most terrifying weapon."

Dean paused. "And these archangels, they're tied to prophets?"

"Yes."

"So if a prophet, were in the same room, as a demon…"

Cas raised his eyebrows. "Then the most fearsome wrath of heaven would rain down on that demon." He paused, his tone becoming that normal, damn near human sound again. "Just so you understand, why I can't help." He looked at him expectantly.

Dean glanced to Kayla with a look of surrender; he'd been wrong about Cas. "Give him his damn hug and let's go get Chuck."

She grinned and hugged him tightly. "Free will, felt good didn't it? Thanks Cas."

"Good luck."

Kayla ran to catch up with Dean.

The whole thing was almost too easy after that. In fact, the hardest part was convincing Chuck to go to Sam's hotel but luckily he was afraid of guns and Dean was desperate. As Chuck had written, they found Lilith with Sam in the motel, (though she was trying to stab him) and as Cas had promised, an archangel showed up to intervene. Lilith took off in a hurry.

Sam hadn't been able to kill Lilith, he hadn't been strong enough to even throw her. Dean was furious that this didn't shake his confidence. It had made him more determined than ever to get strong enough to kill her.

"Do me a favor and talk to Sam." He paused and corrected himself. "I don't mean like, stop fighting kind of talk to Sam 'cause you two can keep bickering like teenage girls until the cows come home. I mean _really_ talk to him."

"What am I supposed to be talking to him about?"

"This demon crap, it's gotta stop."

"Why do you think he'll listen to me?"

He shrugged a little. "It's worth a shot, he's sure as hell not listening to me."

Kayla nodded, why not right? She still wanted to keep him safe. "I can try."

She walked down the hall, running the words through her head. It'd been so long since she'd talked to him about something serious, she wasn't sure how to approach it. If things were still the same as they used to be it wouldn't be a problem. _Hey loser, this whole psychic thing is getting stupid and you need to knock it off._ Somehow she didn't think that would work now. She took a steady breath and knocked on the door.

Sam opened it, looking a little surprised to see her standing there. "Kayla."

"Can we talk?"

"Are you…talking to me now?" He asked, a bit of bitter sarcasm in his voice.

She huffed in quiet frustration and turned to walk away, she wasn't going to talk to him like that for sure.

"No no no, wait. I want to talk to you. Hold on." He closed the door again which just added to the mystery that was becoming Sam, and after a moment opened it again. "Come in."

She pulled the door shut behind her. "I can come back if I'm interrupting."

He ignored that. "I'm sorry, about what I said. I didn't mean it."

"I know, you know I didn't either." Kayla grimaced off the sour memory of his Ruby comment. "I'm sorry I've been such a bitch."

He sat down on the edge of his bed, feeling relieved. He'd waited an unnecessarily long time to give her the simple apology. "But that's not why you came."

She shook her head and sat next to him. They sat in silence for awhile; she figured he was trying to get into her head, getting a feel for her mood but she didn't mind. She was enjoying the readjustment to not being mad at him all of a sudden. She wondered if she was mad to begin with or if it just made the transition easier.

"You don't have to worry about me." He suddenly told her, breaking the silence.

"Yes I do. You've been told by so many people that what you're doing is dangerous, why won't you listen?"

"I'm only hurting demons. Why is it bad just because I do it differently?"

"I don't know, but they seem to. The angels, Pamela, John…they all warned us against this."

"Without explanation."

She fished. "I don't like what it's doing to you."

He tilted his head as he looked at her, calling her bluff. "Yes you do."

Damn him. "No there's a difference. I like the powers, I do. They're awesome and effective…" she paused, knowing he could read her completely anyway. "And yeah, I think it's hot. But you're hiding things, lying to us and to be honest you're kind of being a dick."

He sighed quietly. "There are reasons."

"Without explanation. Tell me what's going on Sam, please. Whatever the big secret is just tell me and we can get it over with."

He wanted to; he wanted to tell her everything. At least then she'd know that what he was doing was for the best, he was trying to help everyone and for God's sake he wasn't going darkside. "I can't." There was no way. She'd tell Dean and he'd have to stop, everything he'd done up to this point would be for nothing and he'd worked so hard.

She saw the determination in his expression. "Sam, I'm not trying to keep you from what you want to do. I just don't want to see you get hurt. I don't want to lose you."

"The better I get, the less likely it is that I'll get hurt."

"You don't know that. It's scaring me, this whole thing is freaking me out. I don't see why you have to hide everything." The argument was clearly going to go in circles and she decided to just state the point, at least she can say she tried. "Just stop Sam, stop whatever it is that you're doing. What can I say to you? What can I do?"

"Nothing!" He tried not to snap at her, he could feel the concern fueling her argument. "Can't you see I'm doing this for all of us? I want to end this, I don't want to do this forever."

"You want to get strong enough to kill Lilith." She fought the urge to smack the idea out of his head. "Fine, say you do. Then what? The next big player who's got something to prove steps up for his turn. It will _never_ stop Sam, it'll never be over."

"I have to try."

"Let someone else try!"

"I can't!" He snapped that time and she got quiet. Sam realized then that he couldn't make her understand, not now anyway. Maybe when he had succeeded, then everything would be okay. Things really would be back to normal but for now this was as close as it was gonna get.


End file.
